Ben Smith
Global Terrorism and Egypt
The rise of Global
Terrorism during the last century has had profound effects on how people perceive
globalization. From the historical stories we hear growing up, it seems that
human civilizations have mostly considered the knowledge of and interaction
with the rest of the world to be opportunistic. A society that had intimate knowledge
of a foreign, or exotic society, typically gained new goods and trading opportunities,
new ways to develop skills and potentially new lands to conquer and/or exploit.
If relations were to sour between nations however, the societal
risks were much different than in modern times, and seemingly more severe. From
one nation to act out violently against another, the violence would typically
be forced to be organized, clear fights for territory that was easily described,
and determined, by the use of a map (Cutter et al, xvii).
Terrorism,
defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the use of violence in the pursuit
of political gains”, however, has been able to mitigate the geographical
restrictions on such violence. As a result, international relations and foreign
policy decisions are not protected by isolation, and can lead to disastrous
consequences with the heart of the state. If a country, or nation, wanted to
destroy the capitol building of a rival group, they would have to march an
army, often deep into enemy territory. The march would be dangerous and slow.
Now though, it only takes one person to buy a plane ticket, build a homemade
explosive and drive it into the capitol building.
Competing
ideas can easily lead to violence and typically are the reasons behind most conflicts.
As globalization increases, access to competing ideas increase. The members of international
politics must be more careful and deliberate with their actions, for a wrong
action, or even a misplaced word, could can encourage a devastating terrorist attack.
This ever present possibly encourages
fear in societies, primarily of outsiders which in turn encourages ethnocentrism.
Terrorism is such a powerful tool that even the threat of a potential
possibility of terrorism has been considered as a justification for war (the
U.S.’s pre-emptive invasion of Iraq).
Egypt
has a prominent history in the development of modern terrorism and the radical Islamic
Jihad movement. The ideological foundation for these Islamic terrorist
organizations originated in the life and literature of an Egyptian named Sayyid
Qutb. Born in 1906, Qutb was an extremely religious and educated man. He found
great importance in the international issues of his time, and was continuously
shaped by those events throughout his life. Qutb viewed the world in two
hemispheres, material/western, and Islamic/eastern. Interestingly enough
though, he was on a boat traveling to do graduate work in the U.S. when the
six-nation Arab armies, including Egypt, were destroyed by Israel in 1948.
Qutb’s
experiences in the U.S. were unpleasant, and he deeply despised the racism,
materialism and sexualism that he considered to define U.S culture (Wright, 24).
From this point forward he saw the westernization of the Arab world to be a
significant threat. He returned to Egypt inspired, and began writing the
literature that would shape into the Jihadist movement and eventually make him
the movement’s first martyr.
Though
Qutb did not found the Muslim Brotherhood, the prominent pro-Islamic state
organization that developed in Egypt, he arguable the most important member the
organization ever had. Originally formed as a political organization, as
opposed to a terrorist organization, the Brotherhood worked with the development
of Abdel Nasser’s government. Qutb was a primary consultant to Nasser, but was
essentially used as a pawn since Nasser had every intention in maintaining the
strict secularism that existed during British control. Once Qutb and the
Brotherhood realized that they were betrayed, they created a plot to assassinate
Nasser, but the plot was foiled and Qutb was jailed and tortured for several
years. During that time he wrote Milestones
which argues that the Islamic world is under attack from western society, and
must act violently to combat this threat that will otherwise lead to the
destruction of Islam. This book is by far the most influential text ever
written in terms to Islamic terrorism, and changed many interpretations of the
Quran, most significantly defining the radical Islamic perspective of Jihad
that is used today to justify the incredibly violent actions of terrorist
organizations. Qutib was executed in 1966, and is often considered the First
Martyr of the Jihadist movement. Without
the conflict between the secularist and non-secularist in Egypt, terrorism
would not be what it is today.
The
Muslim Bortherhood still exist, and controlled the government after the 2011
revolution for over a year before being overthrown and has since been violently
suppressed. As Egypt continues to settle into its new self, terrorism continues
to exist. November of 2014 saw a new wave in attacks, but overall, terrorism is
not nearly as extreme as it could be and is in other countries that lack an
established and strong government.
Works Cited/References
Cutter, Susan L.,
Douglas Richardson, and Thomas J. Wilbanks. The Geographical Dimensions of
Terrorism. New York: Routledge, 2003. Print.
Wright, Lawrence. The
Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Knopf, 2006. Print.
